This invention relates in general to personal computers (PC's) and in particular to personal computers that are part of local area networks (LAN's). One of the difficulties in using prior art personal computers is that the user must manually adjust or set a plurality of mechanical connection devices, such as dual in-line pin (DIP) switches and wire jumpers, in various ways to properly configure the controller chip for operation on the particular LAN with which the PC is interfacing. The mechanical adjustments or settings of the switches and jumpers connect to various bus pull-up resistors (or directly to dedicated terminals of the chips) for establishing the proper voltages for the controller chip, which is thereby configured to establish the desired operating characteristics for the network interface card.
By way of explanation, but without limitation, the particular interface card may be used to configure the LAN network interface and controller chip for establishing PC operating conditions such as the Interrupt Line, the I/O (input/output) base potential, the I/O memory condition and a boot prom arrangement where the PC terminal itself is booted up from the LAN. The various settings to accomplish the above are normally performed by the user when the network interface card is installed and are accomplished by manually operating various DIP switches and/or physically moving wire jumpers on the interface card.
The present invention eliminates the need for manual operations of such mechanical connection devices when configuring the network interface card controller.